STERLING HEIGHTS, MI and AUGSBURG, Germany, May 18 /PRNewswire/ - KUKA Systems North America has made a successful entry into the
burgeoning Canadian solar panel manufacturing sector, demonstrating in
the process how it can adapt its extensive suite of automated
production solutions to a panel maker's unique requirements. KUKA
Systems provides photovoltaic panel manufacturers around the world with
fully automated production lines or any level of automation short of
that, from cell layout through all stages of module assembly and
quality control, regardless of type or dimensions.

For its first Canadian customer, KUKA Systems is installing three
partially automated, post-lamination framing lines for trimming,
framing, testing and packout of photovoltaic panels, a $12 million
contract. Each line consists of five robots, as well as applicators,
conveyors and other handling and testing equipment. Installation began
in the first quarter of 2011.

120MW of annual production - per line
This customer is building Canada's largest solar panel manufacturing
plant, in southern Ontario. Each line will be capable of handling 120MW
of annual production, making it North America's largest manufacturing
site for crystalline silicon-type panels and one of the largest on the
continent making any type panel. "This is a landmark contract, one of
our largest in North America to date and our first solar-related
installation in the small but rapidly growing Canadian solar
manufacturing sector," says Robert Giaier, Vice President, Alternative
Energy, KUKA Systems Corp North America. "We welcome the opportunity to
contribute our solar technology and extensive experience as assembly
line integrators to our customer's success."

A definite plus for solar customers
The post-lamination lines were built first at KUKA Systems North
America, tested in-house, then disassembled and trucked to the
customer's facility where they are being reassembled. "It's fair to say
installing a piece of automation in Ontario is more involved than in
many other North American jurisdictions," says Giaier. The technical
requirements for electrical systems definitely are more stringent in a
number of ways, covering transformers, special wiring and other safety
considerations. "The fact KUKA Systems has installed complete automated
assembly lines in Ontario for some of the world's leading automakers is
a huge help," says Giaier. "We have a great deal of retained knowledge
of the Ontario technical requirements and how to anticipate them in our
planning and site preparation, a definite plus for our solar
customers."

Solar power industry
With the growth of the modern solar power industry, KUKA Systems, a
world leading systems integrator specializing in manufacturing flexible
automatic production processes, has developed and installed proprietary
solar automation solutions for both the crystalline silicon and thin
film sectors of the industry. Those technologies cover wafer, cell and
module production, helping the PV panel manufacturing sector improve
their competitiveness. KUKA Systems' expertise in designing and
building integrated assembly lines for the solar industry leverages
decades of experience automating the assembly lines of some of the
world's largest automakers. The Ontario facility targets the Ontario
market because of strong interest in solar power development being
stimulated by attractive feed-in tariffs offered by the government of
Canada's most populous province.

About KUKA Systems:
KUKA Systems Corp North America, a Michigan-based company, is part of
the KUKA Systems Group of Augsburg, Germany, a leading global supplier
of flexible automation systems for the Automotive, Aerospace, Energy
and Industrial Solutions sectors. Some 3,500 employees worldwide work
on ideas, concepts and solutions for automated production and the
provision of products and services for virtually all tasks in the
industrial processing of metallic and non-metallic materials. The
Energy Division offers engineering services, automated production
modules and complete turnkey production lines for the photovoltaic,
solar thermal and wind energy sectors.